Server computers are utilized extensively today to provide for, among other uses, centralized or distributed storage repositories for applications software and for other software. Often, a server computer is utilized in a network environment to provide these applications and other software to other computers that may be interconnected through the network. This type of arrangement is particularly efficient for downloading common applications that may be utilized by a variety of different computers from one conveniently serviced server computer.
Today, it is not uncommon for a large number of server computers to be physically mounted within a single computer rack or otherwise in close proximity. It may be convenient from a serviceability standpoint and other standpoints to be able to provide for the booting of the servers in a secure manner. Additionally, it may also be highly desirable to eliminate redundant drives such as disk drives that may be utilized in the boot up process to load an operating system onto the server computer. This may be particularly true for “server blades” which are typically stand-alone server computers that have been integrated into a single plug-in card. As such, server blades may not have associated with them a boot device such as a disk drive.
The present invention may address one or more of the above issues.